The present invention relates to methods for assisting users in efficiently entering search queries.
A variety of techniques have been developed for reducing the amount of time and effort needed for search engine users to locate desired items within large domains of items. One such technique, which is described in published international patent application WO 99/45487 assigned to Amazon.com, Inc., involves ranking the search result items for display based on the frequencies with which users of the system have selected the items. With this method, the most frequently accessed items among a population of users tend to be displayed near the top of the search results list, reducing the need for the searcher to scroll through long lists of search results.
Another technique, which may be invoked when a search query produces a large number of hits, involves suggesting related terms to add to the query. One such method, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,225 assigned to Amazon.com, Inc., involves suggesting the terms that have appeared in combination with the submitted term(s) the most frequently in recent, successful query submissions. For example, if the user submits the book search xe2x80x9cthin airxe2x80x9d and obtains a long list of matching titles, the search system may suggest adding xe2x80x9cintoxe2x80x9d to the query based on the high frequency with which other users have recently submitted the query xe2x80x9cinto thin air.xe2x80x9d As with the search result ranking method described above, this method tends to direct the searcher to the items that are currently the most popular among the population of users. Other known techniques for assisting users in conducting searches include (a) displaying to the user search queries being submitted by other users (implemented by the Metaspy(trademark) service of the Metacrawler.com web site), and (b) providing links for the most popular searches of the day on the site (implemented by the Altavista web site).
It is also known in the art to provide an autocompletion tool that suggests completed text strings to the user as the user enters text. For example, Microsoft""s Internet Explorer browser automatically suggests completed URLs as the user enters text in the URL field; and the TextPlus(trademark) for Palm tool suggests autocompletion words and phases (based on frequency of use) as users enter text within Palm Pilot(trademark) applications. These tools generally operate based on text strings that have previously been entered on the particular PC, Palm Pilot, or other computing device. As a result, the tools generally are not helpful when the user enters a new term or phrase.
One problem that is not fully addressed by the above and other known methods is that of reducing the number of keystrokes, voice commands, or other actions needed to enter a search query for searching a particular catalog or database, such as the products database of on online merchant. This problem is particularly important to users of handheld and other wireless computing devices that do not include full keyboards. The present invention seeks to address this problem.
The present invention overcomes the above and other problems by suggesting autocompletion strings (terms and/or phrases) to users during the query entry process, wherein the suggested strings are based on specific attributes of the particular database access system being searched. In accordance with the invention, a string extraction component associated with a particular database access system, such as a web site of an online merchant, periodically generates a dataset that contains the autocompletion strings (terms and/or phrases) for the system. The datasets are transmitted to users"" computing devices, which may include handheld and other wireless devices that lack a full keyboard.
An autocompletion client which runs on the computing devices in association with a browser uses the datasets to suggest autocompletion strings as users enter queries that are directed to the database access system. Because the autocompletion strings are not based solely on strings entered on the particular computing device, they tend to be helpful for entering both new and previously entered text strings. The invention may be used regardless of the particular text input method used (stylus/graffiti, voice, keyboard, etc.).
The datasets are preferably generated so as to favor the items and/or search strings that are currently the most popular. For example, if Pokemon toys are currently the best selling or most-frequently-searched-for items within the database, the term POKEMON may be suggested whenever a user enters the letters xe2x80x9cPO,xe2x80x9d even though many hundreds of other items in the database may start with xe2x80x9cPO.xe2x80x9d In one embodiment, the datasets are generated periodically at least in part by extracting the search terms and phrases that have appeared the most frequently within successful search queries within a selected period of time, such as the last X days. In another embodiment, the autocompletion strings are periodically extracted from database descriptions of the most popular items within the database (e.g., the best selling or most frequently accessed items over a selected window of time). The datasets may also be customized to particular users or user groups. In one embodiment of the autocompletion client, the user can submit a suggested autocompletion string as the query with a single action, such as clicking or tapping on the string.
An important benefit of the inventionxe2x80x94particularly for users of wireless computing devicesxe2x80x94is that it significantly reduces the number of keystrokes, voice commands, or other actions needed to enter a query. Another benefit, in certain embodiments, is that the suggested strings strongly reflect the browsing activities, and thus the item interests, of a population of users. Another benefit, which is inherent in the preferred methods for generating the datasets, is that the suggested search strings do not produce a null query result.